Our Mission
The Reservatory was created to pursue a vision of the world in which consent is the basis for data exchange. As the pace of change in society accelerates, access to data will increasingly come to be a prerequisite for economic opportunity and scientific progress. While the benefits of a more connected and AI-centered society are easy to imagine, they will likely come at the cost of increased inequality. Health data equity is one area of great importance in which significant opportunities exist to shape the course of the future for the better.
In our vision for the future, individuals are elevated from blind spectators of the health data economy to fully fledged participants.
In our vision for the future, individuals are elevated from blind spectators of the health data economy to fully fledged participants.
Personal Repositories
We are investigating the possibility of creating individual-level health-data repositories, an essential component of increased data equity. These repositories are analogous to bank accounts, facilitating the familiar functions of withdrawal, deposit, and transfer. Secure and private storage is prioritized. |
Self-Agency
We believe individuals should have the right to control 3rd party access to their data. We are developing a framework for balancing individual rights with the rights of institutions that, either financially or through material means, contributed to data generation. |
Equitable Data Sharing
What makes a data transaction equitable? We believe that consent and compensation are necessary conditions. With consent, the lender (individual) sets a price and contractual terms at which they are willing to grant a degree of (institutional) access to their data. A transaction proceeds only if the goals and values of both sides are sufficiently aligned. |
The name "Reservatory" conveys the idea of a place where important things are held in reserve.
ADDRESSING RISING HEALTHCARE COSTS
Increasing equity in the health-data economy requires systemic change.
Self-agency and consent based transactions are necessary conditions but they are not sufficient.
Actionable knowledge at the individual level is the key to unlocking the full potential of the system we are proposing.
Self-agency and consent based transactions are necessary conditions but they are not sufficient.
Actionable knowledge at the individual level is the key to unlocking the full potential of the system we are proposing.
HOW DO SELF-AGENCY AND EQUITABLE DATA SHARING FURTHER
THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE?
Data sharing under the current system is plagued by institutional barriers and inefficiencies that lead to reliably worse outcomes.
EnableSearch & Solicitation
Imagine a future in which institutions (e.g., medical research, biotech & pharma, insurance, advertisers, etc.) must request access to your health data directly from you. Technology enables this kind of search and solicitation without revealing your identity. In fact, privacy tradeoffs can be adjusted directly by granting a trusted intermediary the right to interface with those institutions interested in borrowing your data.
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Facilitate
Incentivized Sharing
Imagine you are an oncologist with patients enrolled in a clinical trial for personalized tumor vaccines. Your trial contains 20 patients - the maximum number available at your hospital - yet drawing statistically reliable conclusions about efficacy requires 10x as many patients. The ability to search for and solicit cancer patients (offering financial compensation) at other institutions makes a significant difference.
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Foster
Trust in Institutions
Imagine a future in which competition for access to your data is no longer based solely on the financial bottom line. Instead, individuals begin to consider what will be done with the data they loan out. Perhaps certain data-transaction contracts come with ethical standards built in. Perhaps institutions can be evaluated on their data usage based on criteria derived from the public interest.
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